Review: "A Magical Journey"

There's an adage in storytelling that encourages writers to "show, don't tell"; this film could have benefited from that advice. Instead, A Magical Journey relies heavily on a character's recollection of events to compensate for a disjointed storyline that doesn't add up to much of anything.

An oddball collection of characters moves from disconnected setting to setting, or more accurately, from soundstage to soundstage of a magical movie studio, as a young girl tries to solve a mystery by midnight.

The adventure leaves nothing for viewers to grab onto -- no fully-developed characters, no hoped-for outcome. Other aspects add to the weirdness, including some poorly-dubbed actors in the English version and dismal attempts at humor (?) often involving kids getting hurt. A final fight scene made to look like an early-era video game is vexing. French veteran Jean Reno's apparition as an omniscient hologram does nothing to lift the proceedings, nor does the presence of a few other familiar faces.

Take a pass on this muddled journey.

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Read the full review at Common Sense Media.